History Teaching, Vol. 33 No. 1, 2022.
Professional paper
WORLD CULTURAL HERITAGE TARGETED BY TERRORISTS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 21ST CENTURY
Daniel Bogešić
; College of Pazin - Classical Gymnasium, Pazin
Sandra Sloković
; College of Pazin - Classical Gymnasium, Pazin
Abstract
Although UNESCO did not put a single site of world cultural heritage on the List of World Heritage in Danger in the first decade, they have still been direct or collateral targets in armed conflicts in which terrorist organizations took part as well. The greatest damage to the world's cultural heritage was deliberately caused by members of ISIL, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, but also indirectly by some regular armies. The most threatened were twenty localities in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Mali and Yemen. Looted goods were used to finance terrorism, and their destruction had the function of attracting attention, propagandistic intimidation, but also radical "erasing of history" in order to establish a new identity. Nevertheless, for the first time in history, such crimes were met with a more favourable reaction from the international community, with much more success in terms of repairing damage and preventing smuggling, but with much less success in preventing the destruction of heritage.
The topic was covered in an integrated two-hour lesson of history and geography with 4th grade students, in a virtual environment and using a variety of digital tools. In the introductory part of the lesson, they were introduced to the concept of the world cultural heritage and its suffering in terrorist and armed conflicts. After that, they students worked in groups researching different segments of the issue. In the end, they presented their findings. For homework, they were given a task to write a short essay, which they evaluated in the next lesson through peer assessment.
Keywords
UNESCO; world cultural heritage; destruction of cultural heritage; jihadism; ISIL; Al-Qaida; Afghanistan; Iraq; Syria; Turkey; Libya; Mali; Yemen
Hrčak ID:
294388
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2022.
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